BY Advocate Contributors

April 09 2010 5:00 AM ET

...Gay Men's Health Crisis.

Every 9 ½ minutes someone in the United States becomes infected with HIV. While we fight for a cure, we must focus on prevention. We must reach out our arms to one another in a web of protection and care. Every day the 150 staff members and thousands of volunteers of GMHC reach out to build a web that connects and protects all of us—all races, genders, sexual identities. Every day they offer new hope, new advocacy, new health, new choices to the 15,000 clients they serve. GMHC.org

...the High Line. Once an abandoned elevated railway track, now an endlessly engaging urban park. Perfectly designed to marry the industrial cityscape with a natural landscape, the High Line offers a new perspective with every stroll, a physical representation of the creativity and interactions that make New York New York. TheHighLine.org

...Toshiba Portégé laptop. Sleek, stylish, superthin, and impossibly lightweight. It’s just 2½ pounds and even has a CD/DVD drive and a good battery. ToshibaDirect.com

...Discovery Channel. With a lineup of programming that includes Deadliest Catch, How It’s Made, and MythBusters, Discovery Channel finds the extraordinary in everyday life. And, of course, there’s Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe.

...Martin’s famous whole-wheat potato bread. I used to be seriously carbphobic until I met nutritionist Laura Lefkowitz, who introduced me to the glories of whole grains and the deliciousness that is Martin’s. PotatoRoll.com

...Nurse Jackie. My favorite show on television (and the fact that my boyfriend, Richie, is the executive producer doesn’t hurt either). Edie Falco brings to magnificent life the struggle between good and evil, saint and sinner, dark and light in all of us.